Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles

Over the past number of years, Vega had collected "recordings with melodies, lyrics, notes and pieces of ideas" for songs on her iPhone. Together with long-time collaborator Gerry Leonard she began to 'solidify these ideas' over the course of a year. After road-testing a number of these songs on tour, the duo began the recording of the new material.[7] Leonard gathered a number of musicians and began live-tracking at the Clubhouse Studios in upstate New York. Additional material was recorded at his home-studio, a converted railway station outside Rochester (NY). Leonard also oversaw the arrangement of the string section and the trumpet contribution made by Alison Balsom.[8] "Song of the Stoic" was a follow-up to Vega's 1987 hit single "Luka", and was written from the point of view of the character as he looked back on his life.[9]

All tracks are written by Suzanne Vega and Gerry Leonard except where noted[10][11].

• Suzanne Vega – vocals, guitar
• Gerry Leonard – acoustic and electric guitars, harmonium
• Larry Campbell – banjo, mandolin, cimbalom on tracks 1, 2, 8, 10
• Gail Ann Dorsey – bass on tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8
• Tony Levin – bass on tracks 3 and 5
• Mike Visceglia – bass on tracks 9 and 10
• Zachary Alford  – drums and percussion on tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8
• Jay Bellerose – drums on track 3
• Sterling Campbell – drums on tracks 5 and 9
• Doug Yowell – drums on tracks 1, 4, 7, 9 and 10
• Joji Hirota  – Taiko Drums and shakuhachi on tracks 5 and 6
• Alison Balsom – trumpet on track 10
• Catherine Russell – backing vocals on tracks 1, 2, 8, 9
• Smichov Chamber Orchestra, Prague (conducted by Josef Vondracek) – strings on tracks 5, 6, 8

Technical personnel

• Michael Tudor, assisted by Andy Gilchrist  – engineering except; Strings recorded at Studio Disk Barrandov, Prague by Lukas Vacek and Karel Holas; Trumpet recorded at Angel Recording Studios, London by Gary Thomas; additional recording at Kyserike Station, N.Y. by Gerry Leonard
• Kevin Killen – mixing

In 2014 it was awarded a silver certification from the Independent Music Companies Association,[22] which indicated sales of at least 20,000 copies throughout Europe.[23]